Founded By Women Episode Transcripts
Terri Brax — Lessons in Resilience, The Power of the Collective, Rightful Spotlights, Women in Tech, Dialing Up the Change, and much more!
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Return to show notes for Episode #002.
Terri Brax 0:00
One of the goals that we've always had is to make sure that it would be a level playing field. So this is not just for one type of woman. This is for all women.
Margie Chuang 0:11
Hi everyone. This is Margie Chuang and welcome to Founded By Women, a podcast about inspirational women building inspirational things. Whether they’re founding companies, blazing a new career path, or reinventing themselves, I learn about what inspires women to start their own journeys, what keeps them motivated, and what it's really like to build things that bring them joy.
This episode features Terri Brax. Terri is an entrepreneur, connector and community builder. She is the founder of Teacher Care, a nationwide agency for private teachers and Women Tech Founders, a leading voice for the tech startup ecosystem around female entrepreneurs. Through Women Tech Founders, Terri builds opportunities that advance innovation and leadership in underrepresented communities. In this role, she's helped thousands of female founders across the nation and beyond.
Her community building work has been honored by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and former Mayor Rom Emanuel and she's interviewed trailblazers like Senator Tammy Duckworth, State Representative Susanna Mendoza and co founder, Angie Hicks of Angie's List. Terri has been recognized as a Forbes Woman, WGS MVP, the Tribune's Most Remarkable Woman, the Herald's Influential Women in Business, 50 on Fire's Civic Leader, and featured in Crain’s, The New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Forbes, among others.
Terri also organizes events for foster and at-risk families and participates in boards and activities that drive progressive communities forward. She is a speaker and leads panels on diversity, innovation, and community-building, and is a founding member of the Women’s Entrepreneurial Institute. Terri connects people, organizations, and ideas to equalize power and unleash potential.
Without further ado, please enjoy my wide-ranging and heartfelt conversation with Terri Brax.
Hi, Terri, welcome to the show!
Terri Brax 1:59
Thank you so much, Margie. I was looking forward to it.
Margie Chuang 2:02
Yeah, me too. I'm so excited to have you here.
Terri Brax 2:05
Wonderful to be on your podcast, this is such a great thing that you do.
Margie Chuang 2:09
Thank you, likewise. I know a little bit about your journey, but I can't wait to dig in. Before we talk about your entrepreneurial journey, which is incredibly inspirational, I was wondering if you can share some lessons you learned from your mom, who you describe as a warrior mom.
Terri Brax 2:26
My mom was a concentration camp survivor. And she was an incredible, badass woman. She was my first role model. There was pretty much nothing that she couldn't do, or at least that she'd let anybody know that she couldn't do. So you know, whether the toilet needed fixing or the roof needed shingling or she needed to bake bread, she was on it. She was an amazing role model for resilience and not letting something knock you down, really being able to get back up and figure it out. You know, so much of entrepreneurship is that. So I felt like that was a huge lesson learned by her.
Margie Chuang 3:07
Yeah, wow, I wish we had a stronger word for resilience, because I feel like she exemplified that. While we're on the topic of your upbringing, how has the earlier part of your life shown you the value of diversity and inclusion?
Terri Brax 3:24
So, my background was rather unique in that I did grow up in a very diverse household: myself and my biological parents were both minorities, different minorities. And so, they were college students at the University of Illinois. And when they gave me up for adoption as a baby, with different minority backgrounds, it was a different situation than if there is a baby that's given up that's a white healthy child. And so, a lot of the situations that came out of that were very challenging to say the least. My parents were not technically under their area allowed to have or be introduced to healthy white children.
And so, I came into a family where my mom did have PTSD from all the trauma that she'd been through, which is so understandable. I had a brother who was adopted as well. And he was a mixed minority. And he was born with one hand and some other physical challenges. So, there was a lot happening in our family and my dad was a violent person. And so growing up, there were lots of challenges.
But I did have this mom who I knew was like always a survivor, no matter what happened. Seeing the way the world kind of treated my mom, my brother, myself differently and then having the power dynamics of my dad, it gave me a worldview that was probably quite different from many other people and it’s also given me a lot of the resilience that has taken me through these different levels of entrepreneurship, which can get really rough. As I mentioned, you know, it's not for the faint of heart. It's a really exciting, wonderful thing so often, but it is not for the faint of heart.
Margie Chuang 5:18
Yeah. So we are actually, I'm looking at Terri, even though our listeners are hearing this conversation, I want to describe what I'm seeing, which is, Terri, you're smiling, and you're full of joy. And I just wanted to point out that you've lived this life of adversity, and yet you continue to be joyful and take lessons from that and bring yourself forward through the companies that you're building.
Terri Brax 5:43
I think during this time, we're all going through a lot of adversity. And I think we're all learning to become more resilient together.
Margie Chuang 5:53
Absolutely. So, let's talk about your career journey. You founded two companies, Teacher Care, and Women Tech Founders. Can you tell us about and what led you to build Teacher Care, which was your first company?
Terri Brax 6:08
Absolutely. So when I had my first son, I did the whole repeat the generation situation. And I was in college this time, so very young, and very inexperienced. And actually, I had never held a baby before. The other side of it was I had grown up in this home, had a really difficult childhood. So I didn't have really any knowledge of how to be a great parent. And so I researched and learned as much as I could, but it was so important to me to understand how to give a child, you know, this wonderful childhood, yet still set them up for success for the future. And I didn't know how to do that.
But in essence, Teacher Care became that. It became, this is what I wanted for my son. And I knew that other parents were going to want the same. I had gone to work straight out of college with a young son and eventually left that job, in part because I didn't have childcare that I felt good about. During that time, I was working on my master's degree.
And my best friend had a really difficult childcare situation, a scary childcare situation. But she had to have childcare because she had a younger child in the hospital. So she needed one for the other. She did a search, a massive search and what the best possible situation could be. And she found a teacher. This teacher, her name was Laurie, when I met Lori and our kids were together, it was like the room lit up. It was like this magical thing happening, because we're learning and they were having a great time. And we were both sitting there like, wow, we're learning how to be better parents just by watching her. You know, that was kind of the moment that I decided I'm not going to go back to work in a job that I couldn't feel good about my childcare.
And again, I'm going to create this place that's wonderful for all families. Teacher care is about having a teacher in a home situation where all this learning can happen very spontaneously and naturally by someone who really understands how to teach, not just the academic pieces, but also social, emotional and physical.
We've been growing over the years, and we've helped children of all different ages and all different socio economic situations. We've worked with Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, we've worked with families who travel the world, and they take the teacher with them to do homeschooling.
And now with the pandemic, we are just round the clock. Families create pods, learning pods in their neighborhoods, and so forth. The teachers are there providing that one-on-one instruction that takes it beyond that zoom curriculum and turns it into this wonderful place where it can be extended, but it can be extended in a way that reflects the individual interests of the kids that are there in this small pond and still keeps it healthy and safe for everyone.
We've been doing this for such a long time. And we really have had an opportunity to understand how to vet to find these amazing teachers. It's not just that they have the degree in the field or that they have “x” number of years of experience, but we have people who are principals and teachers themselves that have worked in a home environment, we have a screening process. It's really amazing in being able to filter out who these excellent teachers are that can go into that home environment and not just provide again, the academics but understand how to work with families and how to work in a home setting to really make that become a level of learning kind of opportunity for the kids and then that's going to stay with them as a foundation forever. So that's the goal, the kind of teachers that we're able to select.
Margie Chuang 9:41
Everyone wants to be seen and heard even when you're a little kid. I read that Teacher Care also offers if your child speaks Mandarin, having a teacher that speaks Mandarin to that child You had mentioned the Mercy Home for Boys and girls. Those are children who are raised in a very different environment than what you traditionally think about kids being raised in. And gifted children. And so that's really amazing that you match the teacher to the needs of an individual child.
Terri Brax 10:14
I can't emphasize enough how the teachers that we’re able to find their excellence, you know So, by the time we're done reading, it's roughly 4% of all the teachers that make it through the different cuts, and those are the teachers and that are matched with these different situations based on all those things that you talked about. So, just to be transparent when someone does come to us, and they do need that Mandarin, it's really hard, because you're starting with 4%, that made it through the cuts to get to the level of candidate that we have already.
Margie Chuang 10:45
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. How did you, I can't imagine Terri, so you're in college . . . was your partner also working?
Terri Brax 10:53
We were both working, going to school, living in subsidized housing, we had student loans, it was the whole, the whole deal. I will never forget seeing that color on the test tube and thinking, “Oh, my God!” And I call him and we're college students, right? So he's in a bar in the basement and tears are coming down my face, but I'm like, “I just took the test and duh duh duh.” And he's like, “She's pregnant!” And this whole bar is like cheering and everything. And I'm crying . . .
Margie Chuang 11:29
You're like, I'm very confused about my emotions! So, how did you navigate that, Terri? I mean, when you're building a company, you know, you're obviously thinking about, “ok, I need to make money”, at the same time for you specifically, it sounds like you became your own customer. So, how do you navigate raising young children while building a business and needing to make money from that business, and also have this component where you're giving back in a way to where you're thinking from your heart?
Terri Brax 11:54
So just to kind of unpack the way that it all went, I had my son when I was in college, but I did go to work right after that. And I had a job in a computer company. Years down the road, there comes Women Tech Founders. I was working in that company and having the childcare issues where I took the time after I left work in order to create Teacher Care. And that happened as I was working on my master's degree.
And I was also doing a lot of work with orphanages and foster care. Again, going back to my childhood, it was like really meaningful to me to be able to give back in that way. And I realized that I couldn't, I couldn't do what I wanted to do for those kids unless I could have some kind of an income that could drive it. And so, I created teacher care to help really fund the work that I was doing with foster care, and so forth.
It's actually something that I'm really proud of. My whole family helps us now. And it's a really great piece of everything. That was part of the reason that I wanted to launch Teacher Care.
Margie Chuang 13:00
That’s really inspirational. What ended up drawing you to, you said that you ended up working for a computer science company?
Terri Brax 13:06
It was a computer company, it is a computer company. Yeah, I always knew that the power of being able to scale things, you could make a big difference. I didn't understand at that time how I was going to use it all. But I did understand that this is something that I need to learn. So, that kind of took me into that whole tech world. And the whole beginning of my understanding of why women and minorities in powerful industries need to have more support and years down the road, took me eventually to Women Tech Founders.
Margie Chuang 13:43
Could you take us into your world at that time, the experience of working at a company where it sounds like you were the only woman, if not like a very tiny percentage of women in the tech industry?
Terri Brax 13:58
Yeah, it was a rocky road in the beginning. You know, this is when things were considered that are acceptable that now even are not acceptable. I mean, there's just so many layers of it all. But that was at a time where it was okay to tell a woman that you shouldn't be working here, because you need to go take care of your kid, even though you are doing everything for this company that we've asked you to do and excelling at it.
And those kinds of messages. Were not seeing in the same way as they are today. At least they're called out today. Not that they're not still happening, but at least they are called out and people see it for what it is when you're in that situation or when people are in the situation where they feel like an other or they feel alone.
Margie Chuang 14:52
How did you go about finding other women who were going through the same experience? How do you go about finding people to relate to?
Terri Brax 14:55
You know, at that time, I was really young, I was a college student. I didn't know anyone else like me that had had a child that young that had just come out of college that was in the role that I was in. And it was my regional manager that told me, you know, I need to take care of my child. It was actually my immediate manager, though, also a white male, who sent a limousine over to my home to pick me up with my child and bring me back because he called it out. So, you know, yeah, yeah.
Margie Chuang 15:27
That's fantastic. What a great ally. Let's talk about Women Tech Founders. I'm really excited to unpack all that it is. For those who aren't familiar, can you tell us what Women Tech Founders is?
Terri Brax 15:41
Women Tech Founders is a place where women in the tech industry, whether you're in tech leadership, or you are a startup founder, or you are aspiring to be one, can come together collectively and be or connect with an army of role models in every industry that technology touches, which is pretty much all of them. It's a place that you can advance your career by having an opportunity to connect with female leaders in this entire space.
And it's given women an opportunity to advance their businesses by meeting investors. It's given deal flow to female investors, it has helped women in tech leadership find aspiring employees, and it has helped students find the industry and all the different options in the industry. We primarily do this through events.
Our events include everything from annual awards that are nominated all around the world to conferences with full day programming, twenty plus speakers to smaller events that are very specific in what their goal is. Such as, we just had a couple months ago, the Black Female Founders Event where we highlighted some of the amazing African American women that are doing incredible things. And we had one focused on the pandemic, and women who are focused on the needs that are being created by the pandemic, everything from the creation of pieces of medical devices to support to get people to doctors and get transportation needs met for that.
Margie Chuang 17:16
Yeah, I love how Women Tech Founders just, you do it. You try to cover every interest, every opportunity. Did you have moments that led up to the idea to create Women Tech Founders?
Terri Brax 17:33
I think I mentioned to you before, it's like to be able to create something that you want in your own world is a really amazing gift that I've been lucky to take on. So gosh, there's been so many things that have led up to it. I guess the most obvious one is that as I was growing Teacher Care into a national organization, we were hearing from a lot of families that needed services that we couldn't provide in a scalable way as our agency was providing. And so we built a full tech platform. And as we built this all out, we needed funding.
And I came into the whole world of what it's like to be a woman of color going in the Midwest, trying to get funding. Yeah, it's like a joke. And that was seven years ago, so many barriers, so many challenges. But I was able to come into the tech community that was happening in Chicago at that time and things were just kind of lifting off the ground. There was so much work to do on so many different levels. But, there was also this community of people there that I found that I had never been exposed to before that felt like, let's go change the world. As difficult as it was being a woman of color coming into that, there was also a very special camaraderie and we have your back at the same time.
At that point, less than 3% of all startups were led by women. And so it was difficult to find other women. As time went on, though, I joined different groups throughout the city in order to do that. And there are incubators that were springing up and groups that were coming on. And eventually I was able to meet women in these different areas. And I was hearing the same stories over and over again. And they basically were that, I created something that I'd put all my blood sweat and tears into and the business itself is making the world better for other people around the world and it's profitable, and yet, I get stopped at this funding point. And these kinds of things were happening. And it was literally everything from somebody putting their hands on their knees that were supposed to be an investor to, I've got to talk to my girlfriend or my wife if that's a good idea or not, things like that, that just made no sense. And at the end was the WTF acronym that became eventually what we are known as, Women Tech Founders. But most people refer to us as, WTF.
Margie Chuang 20:00
That's really interesting to me, because I imagine that in meeting these women and sharing the same struggles and the same stopping points that you did, economically, it could be so much more worthwhile to get over that hump and to put your minds together.
Terri Brax 20:18
Absolutely, you are right. Meeting these women was step one is getting to know there are other people like you that are going through this struggle, and alone, not being able to break through, but also all of you seeing each other, and so many other women full of potential that want to do great things in the world and just aren't able to do it. And so, it was that recognition, when we came together that, look, there's 3% of us now and look at all these amazing women that they haven't even had the opportunities that we've had. And all of us have run into so many building blocks.
Number one at that time, we didn't have any support whatsoever, as far as even meeting together. So, we couldn't learn from what each other had learned. And that can be an extremely costly issue. In addition to barriers to funding etc. We knew we needed to create a hub, a place that people could come together. But we also had no role models ourselves at this point, you know, I'd never really seen a woman in tech and what she could do and the types of things that she could achieve. And we knew that for the generation behind us, this is already ridiculous that we were at that point, you know, we've got to make a change for the next generation.
And so, we came together. And we just, by nature, we're very diverse ourselves in every way. We came together with women of every color, every race, every socioeconomic background, we had women in wheelchairs on the stage that all came together to show this is what we've been able to do so far. And come and join us.
When that call came out, women in leadership throughout the city came to support us because they knew how difficult it is when a woman wants to take power in an industry like this, how difficult it can be and how much we need each other to support each other. And so, we had support immediately from the first day that we came out and came together and did our first event.
And it was actually like one of those moments that you always remember, because it was a blizzard. And it was in January, and we didn't know anything about, how do you do an event? How do you do any of this? Right? So a couple weeks before, we started tweeting out, you know, we're doing this and the response was just immediate, and the room packed out and 1871 hosted us. I mean, they had been incredible with the support that they gave us for all of this.
And the CIO of Chicago is there, Brenna Berman, and heads of everything from real estate companies to various industrial type of companies. They were there and they wanted to do whatever they could to help us move forward. And that has been the story of all of this, because it's really been this grassroots movement of knowing that women can make a difference. It was immediately on that day that we saw women taking jobs that they were not going to take before, because they were worried they didn't really fit in and all that kind of thing. And female investors that didn't know that all these female founders, what they were doing. Immediately, so many connections happened. And we've been growing that ever since
Margie Chuang 23:24
I got chills when you were telling the story. Thank you for being really candid, Terri, about the fact that you showed up, you put out a tweet, but you had no idea how many people would show up, if anyone.
Terri Brax 23:38
We didn't know what we were doing. It was so funny. I mean, literally like everybody that was there. None of us had ever done an event. But somebody knew about chair placement. And somebody knew about lighting. Everybody just kind of chipped in.
One of the cool pieces that I remember is a woman who did our moderating, her name is Jill Salzman. She's very flamboyant. And at that time, I had never gotten on a stage to speak for anything like this. And she was just incredibly supportive and I was wanting to give her the spotlight. And at the end of all this, she's like, “I'm not closing this, you need to go out there and you need to do this”. It was her opportunity where it was a packed room, she could have gotten business, but that's the kind of spirit that we've really seen is, you know, women have an opportunity to share what they're doing, but they're also putting the spotlight back on each other. And that's so incredibly rewarding.
Margie Chuang 24:31
That's the way to do it. You're doing it every day.
Terri Brax 25:06
Well, look at what you’re doing.
Margie Chuang 24:31
Yeah, exactly. We're doing it. And it just makes you feel good. You cheer for each other. You know, I read in an article that you said it's like this linking arms type of thing, linking arms, going through it together. It seemed very organic after that event that you would become a company. And Women Tech Founders has both the nonprofit component and the for profit component. What is the process like to say, ok, now we're going to start a company?
Terri Brax 25:06
It has all been a slowly evolving type of situation. We didn't know anything about how to start a nonprofit as well as how to start an event. I mean, this is the bottom line theme of basically every company I've started, I have not known anything. My parents would have never hired a nanny, but you know, when there's something that you really want, and you want to understand, like, you want women to have an equal voice and power, and you want diversity and inclusion, you know, you go out there and you'll figure it out. It's kind of a mantra of entrepreneurship. One of the goals that we've always had is to make sure that it would be a level playing field. So, this is not just for one type of woman, this is for all women.
Many times we've been encouraged to be a membership group with a super high premium to be able to get in there, because we're women in tech leadership. But, we have always fought that because we want to make sure that this is going to represent every woman. And as a result, when I look at who our speakers are, who our leadership is, who the audience is, it is just completely a mix of people. That is beautiful. We're super proud of that. And that is only possible because we have both a for-profit and a non-for-profit.
Margie Chuang 26:21
Yeah, there's so many opportunities for innovation and growth when you can see things through the lens of other people, every ethnicity, different personal and professional backgrounds, how did someone grow up? These are all things that help contribute to hopefully the greater good of building this better world, this more inclusive world. Can we talk about the Women Tech Founder Awards?
Terri Brax 26:45
Yeah! Literally, our goal and our quest to build an army of role models in the tech industry, we've discovered that it's super fulfilling to be able to get nominations from all over the world, from communities in tech, and have them nominate the women who mattered to them and to that community. And so, we now have women from everywhere who have nominated and won awards for their various industries. In the past, we've done twelve awards each year. And I think we're going on our . . . this is our sixth year. So yeah, it's been really gratifying to see all these women who before, didn't have a spotlight, have their rightful spotlight and have other women see the work that they're doing and go into fields because they see this is possible.
Margie Chuang 27:38
How does that process work, Terri? Is there a form on Women Tech Founders that women from around the world can nominate each other?
Terri Brax 27:45
Yeah, and we don't have it up. We put it up a couple months in advance of the awards when we take those nominations. And the voting is also public voting.
Margie Chuang 27:55
That's awesome. What happens at the events, Terri? I know that there's the award component, but I believe you have a funding component to it as well?
Terri Brax 28:03
We also do have pitches that happen and we have had them back-to-back with the awards. So in the afternoons, we have the female pitch event. And then in the evenings, we've had the awards. We are looking at that now with the pandemic, we'll probably have that separated out this year, because it's a long time to be online.
Margie Chuang 28:24
There is an Ally Award. During this time, we're all learning more about what it means to be an ally. So in that category, what are you looking for in that award?
Terri Brax 28:34
I think that's probably one of the most meaningful awards. In fact, last year, Dorri McWhorter won the ally award and she is just one of those powerhouse women in Chicago, just making such change happen as the head of the YWCA. She literally broke up from winning that because it means that these incredible women, who are running all of the tech in the industry and doing social impact work, have really made their choices known for who is moving the needle as much as possible with women in the industry.
Margie Chuang 29:10
That's fantastic. Did you feel at any point that you needed to reinvent yourself going from Teacher Care to building Women Tech Founders, or just getting into the tech space as a general matter?
Terri Brax 29:23
That's a really interesting question. I feel like entrepreneurship allows you to become more fully who you are all the time. And Teacher Care gave me a lot of knowledge and confidence in different ways than Women Tech Founders does. And it has helped me to, I think, evolve into a person who has another sense of perspective on how they can move the needle forward. So, the answer is yes.
Margie Chuang 29:55
Yeah, I was just curious because as we move forward, as things change, reinventing yourself in the sense of what you said, kind of discovering who you are, owning more of who you are. And isn't it interesting that when you think you know who you are, the next year, it changes. And I think that's part of also what your mom said, right? You're just learning and then from learning, you grow more, and then you also get exposed to different people, different experiences.
Terri Brax 30:20
Absolutely. What I think that, you know, people ask me all the time, like, how did you start Women Tech Founders? And why did you start? And I have such a chopped answer. But the core, I guess, is that I did grow up in this really challenging situation. And my first view of the world that I can remember is, I was in my family's dining room, and it was dark, and I was under a chair. And so, just by the size, you have to be to be under a chair gives me some kind of perspective. But I would hide there, that's what we would do, my brother and I, like, every few days, we would hide because my dad would be off that at that time. And so that's where your day would be spent.
I had the really, really limited view of what things could be in the world. We didn't have other cousins and we didn't have playmates. We didn't have a lot of things that are typical of a childhood. But at that time, I remember having a lot of imagination, you know, and feeling like I would figure things out and watching my mom figure things out. And that took me, I think, a long way and getting to the next step. And every step has been like that. I've never thought at that moment that I was ready, but I've never thought that I couldn't do it either.
And so, going into teenage years, I went through a situation where I left home at 17 and did the couch surfing thing, like I've been through some, some roads. But even when I was not sure exactly where it was gonna be, I never felt like I could just say, “pkay, I can't do it anymore”. And I think a lot of that really did come from my mom. And knowing that however bad I had it, she had it worse, there are other people out there all the time that are having such a more difficult situation than I can ever imagine. And you know, even though right now, it feels like everything is upside down and so difficult. But we're still, all of us are so lucky that we have what we have here. And I've just never felt like I didn't have a chance. I've always felt really grateful for every piece of every thing that's happened to me. And every person I meet, I see these special things because all of us have special gifts.
And it's such a cool thing to do, like what you're doing, you know, interviewing people, I love doing that. And I'm dying to interview you, Margie. It's really hard, like when you're talking, for me to come back and ask you these questions because that's who I am here. But I love getting to know people and finding their gifts. I feel like they bring me so much happiness. And they raise me up.
And going back to your question about evolving. I feel like every time I have an opportunity to get to know somebody, it's making me a better person, it's moving me forward, whether it's Teacher Care and meeting teachers are the families, or whether it's in Women Tech Founders and meeting a new student or meeting this top tech leader. I've had incredible opportunities to meet people through both Teacher Care and Women Tech Founders who I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams would become people that I would have a relationship with that I so much respected. And I believe they respect me as well. So, I feel truly honored and want to keep evolving,because this is awesome.
Margie Chuang 33:46
Yeah, I love that term, evolve. And I would love to be interviewed by you. I'll give you a little piece. So, I grew up in an environment where I wasn't emotionally supported at all. And I'm a child of immigrant parents. As I got older, I really did have to think and give my parents the empathy and the support of understanding from their perspective, maybe why they raised me a certain way. Fleeing from Vietnam, coming to the United States, they worked and went to school at the same time. And so, I'm sure from their perspective it’s like, they didn't want me to step out of line for the fear of maybe having to be sent back. Right?
But for me, as a child, you can't connect all of those things together. You're just thinking like, this is happening to me now. So even though I had a voice, and every time that I wanted to give my opinion, share my stories, say “I want to build this”, “I want to do this”, “I want to act”, it was always no and you don't talk to anyone. You don't talk to anyone on the phone, you come home. I didn't get to do all the other things that other kids did. I had my tape recorder. My sister was five years older than me, so we didn't have the same life experiences. I didn't have a playmate. So, I would just be in my room, record my voice on the tape recorder and then act as the opposite person, you know. And that was my way of feeling like I can have a voice. And for now, it'll just be me.
I'm 34 years old and it's really only now, like you said, finding other women, finding people who want to amplify those voices and to root for you and truly root for you, like, “you go, you do it”, because it really does make a difference. And we don't talk about that as much I feel in terms of someone else supporting you and you feeling internally good every day, because that helps you build confidence as well to then say, “okay, I can do it”, like you, on the stage, when you were handed the, “okay, Terri, it's time for you to close”.
Terri Brax 35:49
Yeah, one of the other special moments related to that for me was, I took my daughter when she was in college, and we went to this tech event, she was into social impact. And I wanted to show her that you can merge technology with social impact. And the whole event was all about that. And on that stage, of course, it was all white men at that point I wasn't even thinking about it, because I was so used to that kind of thing. And she said to me, “You should be up there! You've done all of that. And you should be up there.”
When your kids start building you up, you know, I mean, you try so hard to do that for them right? Out of the blue, it makes such a huge difference. It didn't have that family like you're talking about that built you up, but you make your family through your circle of people that you bring around you. It's just so fulfilling. And when you do what you do, all these people that we're connecting, it makes such a difference. And what you know you can do.
Margie Chuang 36:53
Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like that is, again, we're talking about heart a lot, but that is the heart of the Women Tech Founders community. Even in the virtual conferences, Terri, you know, you don't feel you can get emotionally invested because you're looking at a screen. But the Women Tech Founders Virtual Conference this year was amazing, which I'm sure behind the scenes a lot to put on. But every panel had a theme, every woman had a story to tell.
Terri Brax
They’re all incredible, aren't they?
Margie Chuang
Yeah, you know, there's this common phrase used when building startups which is, “make something people love”, Kevin Kelly’s “1000 True Fans” essay became very popular a few years ago. So in terms of Women Tech Founders, going back to the beginning, being a grassroots community driven organization, how do you build a community like Women Tech Founders?
Terri Brax 37:46
I think it's just a lot of heart. You know, I feel like there was a huge trust factor that happened with all these women. We each came together with some real stories of struggle, the good, the bad, and we believed in each other, we believed in what the other person was doing. And we wanted to help them to do that. And we saw all these other women that had so much potential and we knew it was like the right thing to do. It's kind of like your calling that you need to dial that change up. So being able to do something at that time for us after building startups and doing all the heavy lifting that it takes to do a startup for us then to be able to go and share how we did that and make that kind of a change was such an easy responsibility that we knew we needed to do.
Margie Chuang 38:38
Did you end up building the website first, Terri? Or did you go through a platform like Facebook to start getting the word out about Women Tech Founders?
Terri Brax 38:46
We built the website first. Yeah, went to WordPress first.
Margie Chuang 38:52
I imagine, as the Women Tech Founders community started to grow and then now continues to grow and get bigger, you want to ensure that you're staying the course with your mission while also trying to listen to the needs and wants of your members.
Do you have a way or a process to determine what to focus on or build next? Like you mentioned, the foundation of Women Tech Founders is primarily events. But now, there's also Women Tech Founder Wednesdays, there are all those other components that you talked about. So, do you have a process as to which one to focus on next?
Terri Brax 39:30
My process is I have somebody named Miloney Thakrar, my process person. You know, I need to surround myself with process people because otherwise I just start creating all kinds of things in the world that would be a disaster from over creation. I am definitely a believer and have teams with different skills around you to make sure that everybody is, together, going to create something that's going to be lasting. But yeah, we're always trying to become more systematized and make sure what we're doing is going to make a difference as a grassroots organization. Women come to us and they bring their skills on and make us grow and make us better. And so, we have some exciting things that we have planned right now for 2021. I can't really disclose them. It is the result of having some really amazing startup leaders that have some big contributions that they want to offer. So, check back!
Margie Chuang 40:30
Yeah, I'm excited. How do you think about or approach partnerships? There are a lot of organizations out there. How do you decide who to partner with? Are you looking for something in particular? Or is it whatever Women Tech Founders may need at that time?
Terri Brax 40:44
I think that partnerships is something that was a big learning process for me when I started Women Tech Founders that I never really needed with Teacher Care. And it's something that it's not taught in the general school curriculum anywhere. It's one of those things that is so valuable, but it needs to kind of happen as you're going through your business and growing it.
Part of it is timing. And people are recognizing the importance of having diverse leadership and diverse communities that has brought a lot of the partnerships to us. And so, we've been really lucky. But we also came in at a time, as I mentioned earlier, where the tech community in the Midwest was just starting to grow. And so a lot of organizations came together to lift each other up and help each other. And that has been the glue that keeps everybody together when we're looking for a partnership is, you know, how can we help each other equally? And we've found that with different organizations in different ways, but always with the whole goal of making sure that this is going to be a lasting situation that's going to help us all
Margie Chuang 41:55
Absolutely. Building your company through the lens of a woman, through the lens of a mother, working with these other organizations where your values align, what do you think we should start doing to support underrepresented voices, women, and parents in the workplace?
Terri Brax 42:13
You know, as far as parental benefits go, there is no reason I believe why it's so difficult right now for parents. There should be universal care. It just doesn't make sense that the burden is so heavily on women and so heavily on certain women in particular. It needs to be a right, not a privilege.
There's a lot of things that need to happen right now. But I feel like we're at the tipping point where it feels like things are more difficult than ever. But it also means that there's a better chance than ever that we can flip that conversation. And we all need to get on board to be on the same page to make that happen. But it's possible.
Margie Chuang 42:59
Yeah. Let's talk about family and prioritizing. There were a lot of moving pieces during college and work and having children, young children. Now your children are older, but how do you prioritize family time, time for yourself, Women Tech Founders, and Teacher Care? How does that all work for you?
Terri Brax 43:19
When I started my first company, I made a commitment to myself that my kids would always be first. And so, whenever those crashing, difficult situations have come about, they always win. And it's not like this horrible decision because I already made the decision before. So, it's kind of like, I'm a runner, I like going out in the morning. And I know at a certain time, that's what I'm gonna do, you know? And it's like, it's not a decision because it's a commitment. And that makes it all easier.
Margie Chuang 43:49
Yeah, having an intention. I'm learning that now.
Terri Brax 43:54
Guilt, the guilt will kill you, you know? And not that I don't have any guilt. It's just for me, this makes it much easier. Because I’m always feeling guilty about almost everything. I’m not perfect, but you know, I can tamp it down a little.
Margie Chuang 44:11
Yeah, exactly. At least for me, even though I also thought the same thing. Like once I had kids, they would come first, I have to also just remind myself, ok on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, during these hours, we are really going to be in it together, like me and the boys. I say Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays because on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my husband and I and my in-laws help to work out a space of time, so that I can get some work done as well.
Terri Brax 44:35
Yeah, I started Teacher Care literally on my kitchen floor with my daughter in my lap, sitting cross legged on the floor, and she had crayons and we had folders. And she would write her name on top of the folders, my sons are outside and I'm watching them and that's how it all kind of started. We had a great time when we created the first logo for Teacher Care and it had a little apple heart on it. And we had all the construction paper all over the table and little pieces of paper everywhere. My husband came home and was like, “What are you doing?” And I was like, “We’re creating logos!”
Margie Chuang 45:07
Yeah. Again, it's what you said with your daughter. You took her to that conference, you know, they're learning, they're seeing exactly what you're doing. And she's getting into the entrepreneurial spirit at such a young age and it shapes who they become. They take whatever little nuggets that make up who they are with the personality that they were born with.
Terri Brax 45:26
Yeah, I really feel like teaching your kids entrepreneurial skills, it teaches them how to persevere, it teaches them how to think creatively. And I felt like it was some of the best lessons that they learned was through figuring out how they could create and make it better.
Margie Chuang 45:42
Yeah. So, you built an organization to diversify tech to highlight female tech founders through a variety of platforms: to celebrate these founders, to fund female founded startups. And since we're talking about our kids, I know that we've talked about so many lessons throughout this episode, but are there any specific lessons that you hope to pass along to your children or your grandchildren?
Terri Brax 46:05
So, my family is kind of like our own little incubator at this point. Everybody's super innovative, and we're always passing ideas back and forth, like it's never boring. I totally learned from all of them. And I feel really blessed to have this family that I know it was really rough when we were a young family. We were struggling financially and everything, but we got older, and they were like, we're glad we didn't have everything, because we learned a lot. And we appreciate a lot. And they did. I am really grateful that we didn't have everything either because of that. I love who they all are now.
Margie Chuang 46:41
Yeah. When we first talked on our initial call, I think you called yourself a learning junkie. How do you retain all the information? I'm a person that needs to write things down and then read it over and over again. Is there anything that you do to remember those things?
Terri Brax 46:56
The learning thing. Circling back, that was the one thing that my mom would always say is that they can take everything away from you, because literally, they took everything from her. And the one thing they can’t take, though, is your knowledge, your education. And so, that's always stuck with me really strong. And I am always trying to learn everything. But yeah, memory, I need to write it all down. I’ve got a gazillion pieces of paper. I feel like before I die, that's one thing I have to get rid of is all this paper, because it’s embarrassing with the number of little things that I think are so meaningful and I'm writing down all the time to remember! But yeah, now I've killed my laptop with all the notes and spreadsheets and all of this stuff, full of things that I want to remember, want to know and hope to use one day.
Margie Chuang 47:45
Yeah, I was so glad when Google Drive came out. Because you know, before if your computer crashed, if anything happened, it was gone.
Terri Brax 47:52
Google junkie with that, yeah.
Margie Chuang 47:55
And it's funny, because now it's like you're thinking, instead of cleaning your room, you're like, oh, I really should clean up my computer.
How do you prep for speaking events? Because you speak to a lot of people on stage. And you also speak to a smaller group, so it's like a very different feeling and environment each time, depending on your audience. Do you have a coach? Do you do breathing exercises? Do you dance before?
Terri Brax 48:18
I love to run, that kind of clears my head. And so when I'm trying to figure things out, there's three things that will help me figure things out: One is I'll go running. The other is I'll go to sleep. And the other is I'll take a shower. But between one of those three, I can usually figure things out or prep for things in my head and they make me feel better. So, that's my three tips.
Margie Chuang 48:41
Yeah, that's good to know.
Terri Brax 48:43
Yeah, I don't have a coach or anything like that. But, I've been really privileged to meet a lot of women. And I'm always learning from everybody I meet. So, I'm sure I'm going to take away from you, Margie, some of the cool things that you're doing through this interview.
Margie Chuang 48:58
Thank you. What's next for Women Tech Founders? I know you can't disclose some things, but what's next, at least for the next couple months?
Terri Brax 49:05
So, the awards are going to be the next big thing that we're going to be doing. And we will have, again, those special events that are going to be happening in between,
Margie Chuang 49:15
I like to wrap up these episodes with a rapid fire. Okay, are you ready?
Terri Brax 49:20
All right.
Margie Chuang 49:21
Are you a morning person or a night person?
Terri Brax 49:23
A night person.
Margie Chuang 49:24
Which would be your ideal office view? A cityscape, the mountains, or the beach?
Terri Brax 49:29
Mm hmm. I'd like to rotate.
Margie Chuang 49:32
That would be really nice, wouldn’t it? What is the very first thing you do when you're alone?
Terri Brax 49:36
Boy, I feel like I'm a workaholic. I’m just realizing that now!
Margie Chuang 49:44
What show have you binge watched and loved?
Terri Brax 49:47
I love scandal. Yeah, definitely, scandal.
Margie Chuang 49:50
Kerry Washington.
Terri Brax 49:51
Kerry Washington is awesome. I love her. Yeah.
Margie Chuang 49:54
What do you do to stay alert and sharp throughout the day, which I think you answered with running?
Terri Brax 50:00
Coffee, you know, that's the other side.
Margie Chuang 50:06
Does it still work for you, Terry? Caffeine? There are some days where I feel like I don't think that anything's happening. I don't think it's absorbing.
Terri Brax 50:14
Yeah, I have my times. Yeah, I think it has to do with hormones or something. I don’t know.
Margie Chuang 50:18
Yeah, honestly, hormones, periods, all those things. In the moments where you're feeling nervous or fearful, what are some things you do or say to yourself to calm down those nerves?
Terri Brax 50:28
I guess I'm kind of a physical person. So, I just need to kind of burn things off. And then I'll typically feel better.
Margie Chuang 50:36
What have other women said or done to empower you?
Terri Brax 50:40
Boy, there's been so many things, like, so many incredible women. It’s supposed to be a speed thing, right? But I'm getting like all these flashes of these women and I am so lucky. And they go all the way from, you know, young to old and everybody in between, relatives, friends. Yeah. Sorry. I can’t narrow it down to one.
Margie Chuang 50:57
You don't need to be sorry, I'm testing out some of these rapid fires. So, this is good to know. Yeah. Okay, last question. It is not a rapid fire.
Do you have any parting thoughts for the listener out there who is thinking about building something, or will build something one day, or is currently building something?
Terri Brax 51:15
This is such a good question. I think that know that it will be hard, but it will be worthwhile.
Margie Chuang 51:21
Terry, thank you so much for giving female founders and leaders who are changing the world for the better a platform to share their stories and empower other women through technology. Women Tech Founders is a fantastic organization. And like your mom, you are a warrior woman and a warrior mom, thank you so much.
Terri Brax 51:44
Thank you, Margie. You are too.
Margie Chuang 51:47
Hi everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in. Links to everything we discussed are in the show notes. You can follow Terri Brax on Twitter @terribrax. That's T-e-r-r-i B-r-a-x. (ed.note: Terri is more active on LinkedIn, at Terri Brax). And to learn more about Women Tech Founders, visit womentechfounders.com and follow Women Tech Founders on Twitter @wtfounders or on Instagram and Facebook @womentechfounders.
And if you have a moment I would love and really appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review on iTunes. It helps us to get more amazing guests on the show and grow the podcasts. You can find the show notes and more interviews with inspirational women building inspirational things on foundedbywomen.com. Until next time, keep building what brings you joy!
Return to show notes for Episode #002.